This post was published long before the Mists of Pandara Expansion.
The tips and techniques explained here may be outdated.

Deadmines, take one

So last night I went through Deadmines for my first time. In fact it was my first instance. It was also my first time using LFG. Very interesting. I have a feeling I’ll go through Deadmines a bunch more times.

I used the LFG feature and got into a very random pickup group. No two people from the same guild. We had me (a rogue), another rogue, a feral druid, a paladin, and a mage. I died twice in the instance. The whole group only wiped once.

I ended up getting [Cruel Barb]. Fiancee thought it was really funny that I got it on my first time through the instance. Guess I’m just lucky. I also dinged 20. Yeah me!

Tikataka is focused on being able to Backstab the crap out of things. I found that I did a ton of damage during the instance but I had to be really careful to not aggro the next critter by getting too far behind my target. I also found that squishy mages have a really bad habit of running from critters. At one point I wasn’t able to hit the bad guy because he was chasing the fool mage all around the room and I couldn’t catch up to him.

Post Mortem
I want to install EquipCompare. That addon allows you to instantly compare a loot item to your worn item. I spent a lot of time trying to compare things manually. I got impatient and frustrated and “greeded” a lot of things I probably should have “needed”.

I also want to install Atlas. It seems to allow you to see maps of an instance. The key-hole view on the minimap is not as satisfying as I want it to be. Plus, I’m hoping advanced maps will keep me from getting lost. It wasn’t an issue here since Deadmines is a straight line.. but I have a feeling all instances aren’t this straight forward.

2 comments to Deadmines, take one

Grats on 20!
Grats on your first instance!
Grats on using the new LFG… (I still haven’t managed that one)
Grats on a spiffy rogue-ish weapon.

Yes, you’re likely to do the Deadmines multiple times. A totally random PUG of level-appropriate toons successfully completing the run is great. Yes, mages (and other squishies) have a hard time overcoming their first response of “Run away! Run away!” The ones that learn (when grouped with competant people), will die less. Rogues die, but hopefully less frequently once they get aggro reduction abilities.

That’s a very nice drop for your first time through (most folks run it many times hoping for their desired drops) — though not ideal for a backstabby rogue. You might play with an equipment changer mod, to switch from dagger to that during battle as needed. I know this used to be the norm, but when a patch introduced a global cooldown on weapons, it got a lot less common.

Greeding on things you need… I’m still working on that, 2 years later. It gets a little easier later on, once you’ve gotten a bead on what stats you need. Also, when your gear stabilizes a bit (i.e. you’ve gotten near the best gear for a given level, or have had the same item for several levels) it is easier to quickly check. But hey, if there’s an addon that can help? Cool!

Atlas is very handy, though I don’t know if they’ve got a version working with the 2.0 code. It doesn’t have all the instances, and can still be confusing in the multi-level dungeons, but is better than not having it. Instances aren’t usually straight lines, but that’s helpful, actually. It sometimes allows raids to take down certain bosses in different order, which, when you’re breaking up an instance over multiple days, can be a big help.

My priest is the right level for Deadmines, but she has yet to get started on the questline that sends toons there. I can bring her along regardless, next time you’re planning to go through DM.
-Edith-
Svetmira, level 20 Draenei priest

My understanding is that Deadmines is the dropzone for the Defias Leather armor that’s the “best rogue kit”. So I know I’ll be trolling the mines until I get the full kit.

As long as someone else (hopefully a tank) has aggro it’s very nice to be able to backstab/feint the bad guy with my dagger. Fiancee says he’s getting me the “best dagger ever” to twink my rogue. I like the backstabbing.. esp when someone else is taking the hits so I think I’ll stick to dagger/sword on this toon.

I believe that the EquipCompare addon just shows the same screen you get at the Auctionhouse that shows your stuff and the loot side-by-side making the comparison much faster.